The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
In oil field well servicing applications, fluids can be foamed to create a dual phase system (i.e. bi-phase fluid) consisting of both gas and liquid phases. One example of the dual phase system is a foamed slurry which may be a cement or sand and water. A foamed cement slurry is particularly useful in certain oilfield operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,003 discloses an apparatus and process for uniformly dispersing gas through a slurry to provide a stable foam slurry, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Co-pending and co-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/641,380, filed on Dec. 18, 2009, discloses a method and system for monitoring the production of a bi-phase fluid, the entire content of which is also incorporated herein by reference.
However, there remains a need to further improve the system and method for generating high qualify bi-phase fluid, such as foamed cement slurries for use at the wellsite. Currently, the foaming process requires the setup of a system that comprises multiple equipments scattered over a relatively large area operated by multiple workers/personnel. The setup includes both the conventional cementing equipment utilized for non-foamed operations and those highly specialized equipments for foam generation, mixing and delivery. Moreover, many foaming operations are requested by wellsite workers/personnel on a pro hoc basis, a significant amount of equipment handlings and pipe connections are typically required at the site of the operation. This reduces the efficiency of the operation and may compromise the quality and safety of the project. Accordingly, it is desirable to have systems and methods with reduced amount of equipment and pipe handling at the site of operation, so foam generating processes may be quickly and safely delivered. This application aims to address one or more problems associated with the current foamed cement operations.